Circlips of the aforementioned type, hereinafter referred to as "of the type specified", may be used for positioning and retaining machine components internally in hollow bores or externally on shafts and have to meet accurate specifications. Such circlips are made by a stamping process by stampling out circlips from sheet metal. A problem with making circlips in this way is the large wastage of material necessarily incurred because the radial thickness of the circlip is small relative to the outer radius of the circlip. In some circlips (used for internal housing bores) the gap between the ends is wide enough for another circlip of the same type to pass through so that the circlips may be stamped out from sheet metal in interleaving fashion to reduce wastage, but even so wastage of material is still significant. Moreover, with some circlips (used for external shafts) the gap usually provided is too narrow even for this interleaving and so an even larger wastage is incurred.
It is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus and method to allow circlips of the type specified to be made in which the aforementioned wastage is alleviated and also in which the costs of production of circlips is reduced.